Thursday, July 5, 2012

Coming distractions: August 2012 on TCM

After getting what’s in store for viewers in July on The
Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ just under the wire a few days ago,
I’m glad to get a “breather month” where I don’t have to do as much as the
linking work as usual. August is
traditionally TCM’s Summer Under the Stars celebration, where each day, a
particular member of the classic movie firmament is toasted with a day-long
scheduling of their movies…and while the annual event is quite popular with many
vintage film aficionados, I must confess I don’t always embrace its arrival
with the openest of arms. Still, every
silver lining has its cloud—at least it’s not “31 Days of Oscar,” which is my
real bête noire at Tee Cee Em. (Same films every year…with very little
deviation.)

So while I’m on a confession roll here…I also need to come
clean and own up to not paying much attention from year to year which stars
have been feted and which have gotten the snub.
I know some good people who can look at the Summer Under the Stars
lineup and say: “Oh, this is the first time they’ve honored (insert actor or
actress name here).” (The last time I
was really pumped about SUTS was back in 2010, when they
offered a doff of the cap to TDOY
goddess Thelma Todd, because they ran a bunch of Charley Chase shorts I didn’t
have, not to mention the two-reelers the actress made with ZaSu Pitts and Patsy
Kelly.) I might be able to do the same
thing, too, had it not been for some brain cell-killing activities I engaged in
back in high school and college (of this…I shall say no more).

That having not been said, there will be a few
surprises. August 3, the channel devotes
an entire day to Olympic gold medalist-turned-movie Tarzan Johnny
Weissmuller…and as you would expect, all twelve of his Tarzan flicks will be
shown on that date (starting with the final one he did for R-K-O in 1948,
Tarzan and the Mermaids [at 6am], and sort of working backward). To round out the schedule, the channel offers
up three of the Jungle Jim programmers Weissmuller did for Columbia…and since
my mother and I both own and have seen all the Tarzans I kind of wish they a)
had penciled in more of the Jims, and b) had not stuck them in the hour where
insomniacs and night auditors prowl.
(Mom has viewed a few of the Jungle Jim pictures on Antenna TV, and thinks
they are positively riotous.) I have
since learned that Tee Cee Em will start running the Jungle Jims in a noontime
slot beginning September 1—I hope to have news on that and
much more soon.

Turner Classic Movies will turn over the daytime schedule to
the films of actor Toshiro Mifune on August 9, and will include a lot of
Mifune’s lesser-known features as well as biggies like Rashomon (1950; 7:45am),
Seven Samurai (1954; 9:15am), Throne of Blood (1957; 12:45pm) and Yojimbo
(1961; 2:45pm). And at the end of the
month (August 31), James Caan gets feted with a day of his movies—some of which
might not fall under the official definition of “classic movies” but are
definitely worth your time like Slither (1973; 9:30am), Hide in Plain Sight
(1980; 10:15pm), Thief (1981; 12mid) and The Rain People (1969; 4am).

So let’s take a quick look at the month, shall we?

Wednesday, August 1 – John Wayne. This is for the benefit of those who are no
longer watching the once-proud AMC, whose schoolgirl crush on both the Duke and
Clint Eastwood is starting to take on the proportions of…well, to use one of
Eastwood’s films, Play Misty for Me (1971). True story: AMC runs both The Sons of Katie Elder and El Dorado practically every Saturday, and I know this to be so because my father watches them practically every Saturday. You have most of the usual suspects (Stagecoach, Red River,
The Searchers, Rio Bravo) but they will be showing Tall in the Saddle (1944) at 4:30am, and I
haven’t seen that one turn up in the rotation in some time now.

Thursday, August 2 – Myrna Loy also celebrates a natal
anniversary on this date, and since I’ve seen a good many of the films on the
schedule I think I’ll try and check out some of the early Myrna offerings like The Great Divide (1929; 6am) and The Naughty Flirt (1931; 7:15am) because I’ve
always had an affinity for the wicked Loy before she became America’s
housewife.

Saturday, August 4 – Marilyn Monroe.

Sunday, August 5 – Claude Rains. I’ve talked about this on the blog before,
but They Won’t Forget (1937; 7:45am)
is a movie you really won’t forget, if you haven’t already seen it. I’ll also let Mom know that both The Wolf Man
(1941; 6:45pm) and The Invisible Man
(1933; 8pm) are on that evening, and maybe she can dope my father’s drink or
something.

Monday, August 6 – Van Heflin is a huge favorite here at Rancho
Yesteryear, and since I’ve only seen the 1952 version of Bret Harte’s The Outcasts of Poker Flat I’ll have to set the alarm for the 1937 treatment. (Did you known Heflin is in both Battle Cry
and Cry of Battle? What are the odds?)

Tuesday, August 7 – Sidney Poitier. Is there not a letterboxed version of
Something of Value (1957; 12noon) available?
Every time it’s on TCM it’s the pan-and-scan version.

Wednesday, August 8
– Rita Hayworth.

Friday, August 10 – Lionel Barrymore. I always joke on Lew Ayres’ birthday that his
is one of the easiest to program since all you have to do is run a bunch of Dr.
Kildare movies. It’s kind of the same
with Lionel, though you do have the option of some of his silent features (and
in the end, TCM only has one Kildare flick on the schedule, the first of the
M-G-M features, Young Dr. Kildare at 6:30pm). I am kind of curious about Night Flight
(1933) at 10:15, though.

Saturday, August 11 – James Mason. I guess TCM doesn’t have access to The Verdict (1982) because I don’t know how you could fete Mason without it (one of
his best performances, IMO). They’re not
even going to show Odd Man Out (1947)!

Thursday, August 16 – You know…if the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll had
never made any movies I don’t know how TV stations would ever celebrate his
birthday. It’s all-day Elvis, and the
usual suspects are in the lineup.

Saturday, August 18 – Freddie Bartholomew. My only real objection to a Bartholomew
salute is that a few of these films also feature Mickey Rooney: Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Devil is a Sissy, Captains Courageous, Lord Jeff, A Yank at Eton. (This is never a good thing.)

Sunday, August 19 – Eva Marie Saint. The last time I saw one of my favorite Saint
pictures, A Hatful of Rain (1957; 11:15pm),
on TCM it was pan-and-scan. But Fox
Movie Channel showed the letterboxed version a couple of months after
that. You have been warned.

Monday, August 20 – Anthony Quinn. The great thing about a Quinn tribute is that
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943; 7:15am) is
usually guaranteed to be on the schedule.

Tuesday, August 21 – Bobby Osbo fave Kay Francis will be
celebrated on this day, and the good thing about that is the channel has
scheduled both Guilty Hands (1931; 8pm) and The House on 56th Street (1933;
9:30pm) in prime-time.

Wednesday, August 22 – Jack Lemmon. Featuring Lemmon’s only western, Cowboy
(1958) at 12:15am and a movie that my pal Tom Sutpen once called the worst final film ever helmed by a major director, Buddy Buddy (1981; 4:15am).

Thursday, August 23 – This date marks the centennial birthday
of Gene Kelly, and the Classic Movie Blog Association will be hosting a blogathon that same week (August 20-25) to commemorate Kelly’s 100th natal anniversary. Naturally, many of the films covered will be
shown today (though good luck in finding the movie I picked, Christmas
Holiday).

Saturday, August 25 – Every time I see a Tyrone Power film on
TCM I always check to make sure I’m not tuned into FCM by mistake. They don’t have Nightmare Alley scheduled, so
there’s little point in my checking in (well, they will show Witness for the
Prosecution—but it’s on at 2:30am…I
could just trot out my DVD) unless you Errol Flynn fans in the audience need a
fix with The Sun Also Rises (1957; 11:15am).

Sunday, August 26 – Gary Cooper. Yup…Ball of Fire (1941; 8pm)
and Man of the West (1958; 10pm), two of my favorite Coop films, are on in
prime-time.

Monday, August 27 – Jeanette MacDonald. Pasadena.

Sunday, August 28 - Ava Gardner. Some of these films that they schedule for
these stars—in Ava’s case, Hitler’s Madman (1943; 6am) and Maisie Goes to Reno
(1944; 7:45am)—are little more than glorified cameos.

Monday, August 29 – Ingrid Bergman celebrates a birthday today…but
strangely enough, Casablanca (1942)
isn’t on the schedule. Psyche! It so totally is, at 10pm. (Like TCM would pass up a chance to show that
one.)

Tuesday, August 30 – Finally, we will need to hold Cliff Aliperti’s calls on this day because the day is devoted to Warren William films…but
don’t expect me to take any messages, because I’ll be watching goodies like The Mouthpiece (1932; 9:45am), Skyscraper Souls (1932; 11:15am), Employees’ Entrance (1933; 11:45pm) and my favorite of the Lone Wolf franchise, The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939; 2:45am). Next time
on Coming Distractions—a look at TCM
in September. But until then, the Milk
Duds are on me.

11 comments:

I don't think BUDDY BUDDY is very good, but I don't think it's anywhere near the worst final film by a great director. A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG is worse IMO, for example. It isn't on DVD, so this is a definite DVR opportunity.

I don't think BUDDY BUDDY is very good, but I don't think it's anywhere near the worst final film by a great director. A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG is worse IMO, for example.

Oh, I'm definitely in your camp on this one, Brother Hal. Tom is kind of an odd duck: he has more regard for Kiss Me, Stupid than Buddy Buddy, and as hard as I've tried to come around to his POV I usually wind up throwing in the towel. But that's why I've always enjoyed reading his criticism...I don't always agree, but I enjoy the ride along the way.

Any day that brings a lot of Pre-Codes is a good one and the W.William day is definitely the highlight, but -- batten down the hatches! Did you see that they're running Muhammad, Messenger of God on Quinn's day? Damn, people got taken hostage over that picture once upon a time and the terrorists finally did get Moustapha Akkad, whether they were actually targeting him or not. I just wonder how long that schedule will stand if someone makes a fuss.

It pains me deeply to say this, but I agree with Sutpen in that Kiss Me, Stupid is better than Buddy Buddy. KMS falls into pathos, which Ray Walston was never particularly good at -- he's as subtle as a bag of hammers -- but there's a deliberate kitsch that I'm very attracted to.

Buddy Buddy was a film I saw on our local PBS channel back in the late 80s or early 90s when they made an effort to show unedited films late nights on Saturday. I was a bit taken aback by the language at the time, which is shocking to those of you who know me as the foul-mouthed libertine I am today. My main beef was that the language felt gratuitous, and the whole film was a cheap rip-off of the dynamics in The Front Page, too, if we're being honest here.

I can't believe it's been two years since the Thelma Todd day. I would have sworn that was last year.